Simultaneous and efficient removal of heavy metal ions and organophosphorus by amino-functionalized cellulose from complex aqueous media

Electroless plating occupies a vital position in the fields of metal anticorrosion while accompanied by a large amount of effluent containing organophosphorus (like phytic acid) and heavy metals ions {like Cu (II) and Ni (II)}. However, it was still remaining great challenges in how to simultaneously remove these organophosphorus and heavy metal ions with simple methods. This work prepared a green, clean and efficient adsorbent aminofunctionalized cellulose (AFCA) for simultaneous removal of organophosphorus and metal ions from complex wastewater. Benefitting from its abundant amino groups, AFCA can rapidly remove organophosphorus and metal ions within 10 min. The theoretical maximum adsorption capacities of AFCA could also reach as high as 89.29 mg/g, 79.37 mg/g and 178.57 mg/g, respectively. Most importantly, for the mixed system of organophosphorus and Cu (II), the removal efficiency was increased by 5.66% and 30.23% compared with the individual system, respectively. High simultaneous removal capacity of AFCA was due to the hydrogen bond and electrostatic interactions with organophosphorus and the complexation interactions between abundant amino groups and metal ions. All of these results demonstrate that AFCA has enormous potential for the treatment of actual electroless plating effluents.

Automated summary

The aminofunctionalized cellulose (AFCA) prepared in this study can efficiently remove organophosphorus and metal ions from electroless plating wastewater, demonstrating great potential for practical applications.